This is a question about the different state constitutions in the United States, not about individual politicians. Are there significant differences in how powerful the office of Governor is in each of the 50 states in the United States of America? I'm thinking about things like the power to override a veto, granting pardons, appointing and sacking officials, commanding the National Guard etc.

The Governor of California runs the richest, most populous state, one that is so influential that it often leads the way for the federal government in things like pollution standards. And the governor of CA is a "strong governor"--lots of executive power, compared to say the governor of Texas who does almost nothing. So I say CA.

Is the OP referring solely to state constitutional powers or do we include things like the population size of each state? Clearly the California governor will have more power than the Wyoming governor just on the basis of stuff in California to govern.

I have no idea who is considered "the most powerful governor" of any of the US protectorates called "states", but I know who is the most powerful (and important) governor on this continent is: me.

I am a sovereign state. I govern myself. Not only that, but the world revolves around MY belly-button, not yours. My world.

But what makes me so powerful is the knowledge that YOUR world revolves around YOUR belly-button -- whether you admit it or not. That keeps me from taking personally any detritus you might throw at me. And that, my friend, is power.

When Bush and then Perry ran for president there was a lot of discussion about how many limits there are to the governors office in Texas.

Such discussions almost always also mention that all those typical governor's powers, and more, do exist in Texas . . . But not in the governor's office. It's typically said that the Lieutenant Governor has a lot of those powers that one would normally think a Governor would have.

I have no idea who is considered "the most powerful governor" of any of the US protectorates called "states", but I know who is the most powerful (and important) governor on this continent is: me.

I am a sovereign state. I govern myself. Not only that, but the world revolves around MY belly-button, not yours. My world.

But what makes me so powerful is the knowledge that YOUR world revolves around YOUR belly-button -- whether you admit it or not. That keeps me from taking personally any detritus you might throw at me. And that, my friend, is power.

One candidate may be the Governor of New Jersey. Unlike virtually all other states, he is the only elected statewide official (other than Lieutenant Governor), and appoints his entire cabinet, including the Attorney General and Secretary of State and as well as county prosecutors and superior court judges (all subject to State Senate confirmation). This gives him tremendous control over aspects of the state government that, in many other states, are the province of other elected officials who can counterbalance the governor.

For anyone who doesn't get Bump's joke, David Dewhurst is the Lieutenant Governor of Texas. And in the state of Texas, the Lieutentant Governor is, in many respects, more important and more powerful than the Governor.

This is a flawed analogy, but in a sense, Texas is like a nation with a parliamentary government. In a country like Israel or Ireland, for instance, there is a President, but the President is not actually the nation's #1 leader. The Prime Minister is.

Well, think of the Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst as the Prime Minister of Texas and of Governor Rick Perry as the President of Texas.

1. Line-item veto power. Many State governors have it, having it generally means you are more powerful within State government relative to governors who do not have this power.

2. Veto-override requirements. In some States it is quite hard to override a governor's veto, in others the governor's veto is an almost powerless procedural technique. For example some States (West Virginia, Indiana) the veto override only requires a majority of each house of the legislature--which obviously is also the requirement to pass legislation in the first place. So in those States a veto basically just forces a revote, and if the same number of legislators go along with how they voted before the veto is overridden. Others copy the 2/3rds from the U.S. Constitution, others use 3/5ths, a few use a mix where normally it's 2/3rds but to override a budget veto is 3/4ths (so the highest requirement there.)

3. Divided/undivided Executive Branch. Unlike the Federal Government where we only elect the President and Vice President, most States elect at least a few other Statewide officials. Some, it's almost the entirety of the cabinet which is elected: this lists out the offices by State. As you can see some have relatively minor offices like State Auditor and Agriculture Commissioner as elected officials.

4. Appointment power of judges. This shows how each State selects/elects judges. Obviously the States where the judges are gubernatorially appointed are the ones where the Governor is going to have even more power relative to states where that isn't the case.

Given the above information you should be able to craft a nexus of:

High veto override requirements + limited division of elected executive branch + judicial appointment power + line item veto power and come to some approximation of which Governor is the most powerful.

3. Limited division of executive power: only the Lieutenant Governor is elected other than the Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor runs on a ticket with the Governor and has no distinct responsibilities (essentially a Vice President.) New Jersey law requires the Lt Governor be appointed to run some cabinet-level office I'm guessing so they have some function to justify their salary.

4. Judicial appointments. Most of the States either use an election to select most judges or the governor gets to select judges proposed by theoretically non-partisan nominating commissions. In New Jersey the Governor gets to select his own judges and they face a confirmation vote in the Senate.

I think the OP is asking about governor's power relative to other parts of that state's government. Obviously California wins if we are talking in absolute terms.

I agree about the distinction between governor's powers relative to other branches of government within the state versus absolute power. I'd just like to add that to me, it's not as obvious that under the second criterion, California would be the winner. I think New York is at least a close contender. Sure, population, GDP and territory-wise, NY is much smaller than CA. But a lot of the country's economic relations with other countries go via New York, and a lot of companies active across the USA are based there too. You have banking and the stock exchange, you have lots of professional services, media, whatever, and in many respects these will be required to comply with US law - indeed, the state's Department of Financial Services has become very active in financial supervision recently and has become, for foreign banks operating in the US, a regulator about as powerful as many federal authorities.

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PLEONASM: An army of words escorting a corporal of thought.

1. Line-item veto power. Many State governors have it, having it generally means you are more powerful within State government relative to governors who do not have this power.

2. Veto-override requirements. In some States it is quite hard to override a governor's veto, in others the governor's veto is an almost powerless procedural technique. For example some States (West Virginia, Indiana) the veto override only requires a majority of each house of the legislature--which obviously is also the requirement to pass legislation in the first place. So in those States a veto basically just forces a revote, and if the same number of legislators go along with how they voted before the veto is overridden. Others copy the 2/3rds from the U.S. Constitution, others use 3/5ths, a few use a mix where normally it's 2/3rds but to override a budget veto is 3/4ths (so the highest requirement there.)

3. Divided/undivided Executive Branch. Unlike the Federal Government where we only elect the President and Vice President, most States elect at least a few other Statewide officials. Some, it's almost the entirety of the cabinet which is elected: this lists out the offices by State. As you can see some have relatively minor offices like State Auditor and Agriculture Commissioner as elected officials.

4. Appointment power of judges. This shows how each State selects/elects judges. Obviously the States where the judges are gubernatorially appointed are the ones where the Governor is going to have even more power relative to states where that isn't the case.

Given the above information you should be able to craft a nexus of:

High veto override requirements + limited division of elected executive branch + judicial appointment power + line item veto power and come to some approximation of which Governor is the most powerful.

3. Limited division of executive power: only the Lieutenant Governor is elected other than the Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor runs on a ticket with the Governor and has no distinct responsibilities (essentially a Vice President.) New Jersey law requires the Lt Governor be appointed to run some cabinet-level office I'm guessing so they have some function to justify their salary.

4. Judicial appointments. Most of the States either use an election to select most judges or the governor gets to select judges proposed by theoretically non-partisan nominating commissions. In New Jersey the Governor gets to select his own judges and they face a confirmation vote in the Senate.

Yes I was going to say New Jersey for just such reasons. We didn't even have a LT governor until recently when the succession became an issue (both the Mcgreevy resignation and governor health issues such as being in a high speed crash).